Source: Islam Online

CAIRO — The success of Iraqi resistance groups to hack into the complex communications systems of advanced US drones is stirring fears that the Iraqi groups were feeding misleading data to American troops to trap them.

"The main concern was that the video feeds were being intercepted, manipulated and then fed to the commanders in the field," a senior military official told the Wall Street Journal Friday, December 18.

Using cheap software, Iraqi resistance fighters have hacked into live video feeds of unmanned US drones.

Obtaining the video feeds could provide the fighters with information about sites the military might be planning to target.

The US military discovered the hacking after a video footage was found on the laptop of a captured Iraqi fighters.

A defense official admitted that some sensitive video feeds from drones are routinely encrypted.

The US military has reportedly discovered evidence of similar interceptions in Afghanistan.

Drones are one of the most effective weapon of the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US has been heavily depending on the unmanned drones in hunting suspects in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

Three people were killed Friday in a US drone attack in a village in northwest Pakistan, a day after two drone strikes killed at least 14 people in the same area.

Loopholes

Military officials are worried that the repeated hacking of drone communication system and failure to tackle them pose a major threat to national security.

"The fear was a commander looking on a feed, seeing nothing, and then having an enemy tank brigade come roaring into your command post," the military official said, referring to similar hacking of US drones by Russia and China in 2004.

The Pentagon sought Friday to downplay the fears.

"This is an old issue that's been addressed," a defense official told reporters.

The problem had been taken care of, he said, without elaborating.

But according to the US daily, the issue was only addressed by the Pentagon this year.

It said that members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had discussed the vulnerability posed by the lack of encryption in 2004 and 2005, but did not take action.

But the Pentagon insists that the loopholes have been addressed.

"(The military) constantly evaluates and seeks to improve the performance and security of our various drone systems,” said spokesman Bryan Whitman.

"As we identify shortfalls, we correct them as part of a continuous process of seeking to improve capabilities and security."